Saxon Window in Culbone Church - geograph

Culbone Church, located in the village of

Culbone Culbone (also called Kitnor) is a hamlet consisting of little more than the parish church and a few houses, in the parish of Oare in the Exmoor National Park, Somerset, England. As there is no road access it is a two-mile walk from Porlock Weir, ...

in Somerset, is said to be the smallest parish church in England. The church, dedicated to the Welsh saint

Beuno Saint Beuno ( la, Bonus;Baring-Gould & Fisher, "Lives of the British Saints" (1907), quoted a Early British Kingdoms website by David Nash Ford, accessed 6 February 2012 640), sometimes anglicized as Bono, was a 7th-century Welsh abbot, ...

, has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade I listed building and the churchyard cross is Grade II*. The church is recorded in the Domesday Book. The church seats about 30 people, the chancel is , the nave and the building has a total length of . Services are still held there, despite the lack of access by road. The church is probably pre-Norman in origin, with a 13th-century porch and a late-15th-century nave. It was refenestrated and re-roofed around 1810 and the spirelet added in 1888. It underwent further restoration in 1928. Joan D'Arcy Cooper,

psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and interpretation of how indi ...

, Yoga teacher, author of ''Guided Meditation and the Teaching of Jesus'', and wife of the potter Waistel Cooper, was organist at the church and is buried in the graveyard. The graveyard also contains a war grave of a soldier of the Welsh Guards of World War II. Sir

David Calcutt Sir David Charles Calcutt, QC (2 November 1930 – 11 August 2004) was an eminent barrister and public servant, knighted in 1991. He was the Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge from 1985 to 1994. He was also responsible for the creation o ...

QC, a barrister and public servant, is buried in the churchyard too.

Interior and exterior features

The nave has retained its

box pews A box pew is a type of church pew that is encased in panelling and was prevalent in England and other Protestant countries from the 16th to early 19th centuries. History in England Before the rise of Protestantism, seating was not customary in chu ...

, including a Jacobean squire's pew for the now ruined Ashley Combe House. The tall proportion of the nave and the primitive bowl font suggests

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

origins. The east end is restored. There is a small window, carved from a single block of sandstone, outside the north wall of the chancel, with a face on top of the pillar dividing the two window lights. This is probably also Saxon.

Access

The church is passed by the

South West Coast Path The South West Coast Path is England's longest waymarked long-distance footpath and a National Trail. It stretches for , running from Minehead in Somerset, along the coasts of Devon and Cornwall, to Poole Harbour in Dorset. Because it rises a ...

, but drivers must turn off the A39 opposite the village pub, and park where possible on the narrow track. There is then a walk of "through steep woods of walnut and oak, glorious on a summer's day with the sea glinting through the trees, darkly mysterious and dripping with water in winter".

In media

In a television version of '' Lorna Doone'', St Beuno's was used as the location for the marriage of John Ridd at Oare Church. The church is featured briefly in the video for Mike and the Mechanics' 1988 hit song " The Living Years". A 2016 BBC television series ''Coastal Path'', about the

, includes a visit to the church.

References

{{cite book , last=Layley , first=Charles G , year=1985 , title=St. Beuno's Culbone "The smallest complete Parish Church in England{{"- , location=Barnstaple , publisher=Aycliffe Press Ltd., on behalf of Culbone Parochial Church Council , asin=B008LP8HRO , asin-tld=co.uk

External links

Culbone Church website

at minehead-online.co Churches in Somerset Grade I listed churches in Somerset Grade I listed buildings in West Somerset Grade II* listed buildings in West Somerset

Interior and exterior features

Access

In media

See also

References

External links